District Attorney Hoovler Announces Guilty Verdict in Reckless Endangerment Shooting

Defendant found guilty after shooting in apartment house

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that on Monday, October 24, 2022, Kervin Jeanty, 36, of Port Jervis, was found guilty by an Orange County jury of Tampering with Physical Evidence, a Class E Felony, and Reckless Endangerment in the Second Degree. He is scheduled to be sentenced on January 17, 2023. Jeanty faces up to four years in prison.

The evidence at trial detailed how Jeanty fired a pump-action shotgun through the floor of his bedroom moments after an argument with his wife. When police responded to the residence a short time later, Jeanty was outside the residence, wearing a bulletproof vest and was armed with a flare gun. Other residents of the apartment house described how the shotgun slug pierced through two different apartments within the building, striking a toy box and coming to a rest approximately one foot from where a child was sleeping. The investigation revealed that prior to the police officers’ arrival, Jeanty had taken the shotgun apart concealed it by wrapping it in a blanket. .

District Attorney David M. Hoovler thanked his staff and the City of Port Jervis Police Department, who conducted the investigation and arrested Jeanty.

“The defendant’s careless and reckless conduct in this apartment house where children were present and sleeping was nothing short of criminal. It is remarkably fortunate that no one was seriously injured or killed. His brazen acts that followed, including outfitting himself in a bulletproof vest, arming himself with a flare gun and disassembling the weapon, only serve to highlight the defendant’s reckless disregard for human life in this case.” said District Attorney David M. Hoovler. “My office will continue to aggressively prosecute quality of life crimes such as this.”

Hoovler highly commended Assistant District Attorney Tanja Beemer who prosecuted the case.